Closing the eye health gap

Posted by Michael Milston on Nov 20, 2018

ABC RN Breakfast host Fran Kelly, in introducing her guest Ophthalmologist professor Hugh Taylor, said "Aboriginal and Torres Straight Islander children start their lives with excellent eyesight compared with the rest of the Australian community. But ...

By the time Indigenous children reach the age of 14 they begin to be afflicted by preventable illnesses that see their eyesight deteriorate to the point where they are six times more likely to suffer from blindness and impaired vision compared to the national average."

Health officials say they are confident trachoma is on track to be eliminated in Australia — the only developed nation where it still exists as a public health problem — within the next two years.